THE WALKING DEAD Season 7 Episode 7
Episode Title: “Sing Me a Song”
Writers: Angela Kang & Corey Reed
Director: Rosemary Rodriguez
Previously on The Walking Dead:
Episode 7.06: “Swear“
There are spoilers ahead for last night’s episode of The Walking Dead, but don’t pretend that you didn’t know that!
If the Watchmen movie proved anything, it’s that a comic book adaptation can be too faithful to the source material. “Sing Me a Song” had a story that was practically ripped from the pages of The Walking Dead comic book. That should be a good thing, and yet long stretches of the episode were oddly boring. While the creative team of this show has previously remixed the comic book story lines by adding a few surprises, this one only added a few scenes with Daryl and a couple of filler sequences to round out a 90 minute episode, with commercials. At times, it felt like an eternity.
Why did this story play better in the comic than on television? For starters, Chandler Riggs is basically a man now. He’s 17, whereas Carl was much younger in the comic when he went on his little machine gun rampage inside the Saviors’ hideout. It’s easier to buy into Negan’s fascination with Carl when he was barely a teenager, as opposed to someone as old as Riggs is. And while a lot of the dialogue for the episode was also taken directly from the comic, it didn’t seem to inspire the best performances from either Riggs or Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
To a certain extent, this was a necessary episode because we had to see how the Saviors function under Negan. He may not take on the kingly persona of Ezekiel (remember him?), but Negan treats everyone like they’re his slaves and most of them bow to his rule. And yet Negan seemed eager to get Carl’s approval through his shows of power. However, the only thing that impressed Carl enough to even bring it up was Negan’s harem of wives. The more interesting aspects of the episode dealt with an apparent act of infidelity by one of Negan’s wives, and the punishment that one of his men received for it. This was one of the rare occasions that the TV show has actually pulled back from the comic’s depiction of violence. The iron branding was much more brutal in the comic book series than it was here, but it carried the same message: don’t ever cross Negan.
Related: ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Season 2 Deleted Scene
Morgan is still enjoyable in the role of Negan, but he was far scarier when he was holding a baby than when he was playing head games with Carl and Daryl. The way Morgan plays it, Negan may only barely remember that he threatened to kill Olivia. It’s hard to tell if Negan propositioned Olivia just to get her to react or if he was just bored while waiting for Rick to come home. Part of the Negan montage in Carl’s home was actually pretty funny, but the good times were cut short when Negan finally came across baby Judith’s room. Some of Negan’s subseqent threats towards Carl carried more weight that way. And yet that ending just wasn’t a very strong cliffhanger.
As for the rest of the episode, the Rosita and Eugene scenes had the most emotional bite, as she called him out on everything he’s done to emotionally blackmail him into making a bullet for her. That actually seemed to damage their friendship, which has good dramatic potential. Even Father Gabriel got in a few good lines this week, when he told Spencer what a shit he’s being about Rick. It’s also amazing that Spencer is even more annoying on the show than he was in the comics. No one should be surprised by where this is going for Spencer, possibly as soon as next week.
Shockingly, this episode is only the fourth time that Rick has appeared all season, and it squandered him on a pointless scavenger run for Negan that didn’t even get a proper conclusion. At least Michonne was able to kidnap one of Negan’s female soldiers and force her to take her to Negan. It has to be said that this episode felt bloated and way too long. Even the few really good scenes couldn’t save this one when it began to drag its feet. Pacing has been a real problem for this show since the middle of the fourth season. In theory, The Walking Dead should be able to successfully sustain multiple plotlines per episode, but that’s a skill that the series has gotten away from.
What did you think of the newest episode of The Walking Dead? Let us know in the comment section below!
